WikiLeaks Will Target Bank of America Next

January 11, 2011

As long speculated, Julian Assange’s WikiLeaks will release classified documents from Bank of America, in a break from harassing international governments. The confirmation of the target comes via John Carney’s NetNet blog at CNBC.com, where he sources an anonymous “person who has close contact with top people at Wikileaks.” Speculation about Bank of America’s vulnerability ramped up in November when Assange told Forbes that leaks would come from a large U.S. bank in early 2011. Today Assange claimed that more documents will be coming more quickly as he fights extradition to Sweden, though he did not confirm news regarding Bank of America.

Despite Assange’s refusal to name the bank, the consensus has long held that Bank of America is the target. The initial guessing was supported by an interview Assange gave a year earlier, where he mentioned having a hard-drive that once belonged to a Bank of America executive.

Our source has confirmed that Bank of America is indeed the target of the next big leak. The source couldn’t elaborate on the materials held by Assange.

Assange once teased an “ecosystem of corruption,” while we’re left wondering whether we should move the little money we do have.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange vowed Tuesday to step up his site’s release of secret documents while he fights extradition to Sweden, as his lawyers argued that sending him to Stockholm could land him in Guantanamo Bay or on U.S. death row.

That claim, regarded by many legal experts as extremely unlikely, is part of an preliminary defense argument released by Assange’s attorneys ahead of a court hearing next month.